An automobile equipped with a seat member which is disposed in a cabin and supported movably between its use position and its non-use position that is in an upper part of the cabin has been known (see Patent Reference 1). For example, the seat member is made up as, e. g. a seat back supporting the back of a seated person or a seat cushion supporting the occupant's hip. An automobile of this type is capable of holding the seat member at the non-use position in the upper part of a cabin to provide a large space thereunder and to accommodate goods in the space efficiently.
An automobile of the form described above has been provided with a seat arm swingable or to be rotatable supported on the car body to support the seat member so that as the seat arm is turned, the seat member is turned about a pivot of the seat arm to move between the use and non-use positions.
In such a structure in which the seat member is turned having a large turning radius, if there is any object in front of the use position of the seat member, when the seat member is turned from its use position to its non-use position, the seat member may be interfered with such an object and cannot be moved to the non-use position. This applies likewise to when the seat member is turned from its non-use position to its use position.
For example, if a separate seat is disposed in front of the seat member and has its seat back largely inclined backwards, the seat member, when being turned, may be interfered with the seat back of that separate seat. In such a case, it is necessary first to turn that largely back inclined seat back forwards so as not to be hitted on by the seat member and then to turn the seat member. However, it is bother to incline the seat back of the separate seat every time when just to turn the seat member.
Reference Cited
Patent Reference 1: JP 2001-130303 A